You must be wondering what happened to our home in Malaysia. Be rest assured, progress is on track and it is now at its last stages. Even the roads and drains are up! Can’t help but to mention too that the developer has been diligently asking for money from the bank and the bank is also diligently deducting money from our home loan account. What efficiency!

If you want to know when the developers will deduct money, refer to our previous post on the schedular home loan drawdowns. The schedule shows the exact timing and stages where the developer will ask for money to fund their next progress. And the banks will release money according to a letter verified by an architect issued by the developer.

So whenever there’s home loan drawdowns, they also mean that home construction is progressing.

Be sure to check on the home construction site once in a while.

That was what we did recently and we will let you judge yourselves on the progress. Enjoy the pictures of our home in Malaysia!

This is the overall view of the housing estate as of May 2008.

The closed-up view of the houses. This is the particular design and model we bought.

We signed the title transfer for our house on Dec 26, 2007 with the Sales and Purchase lawyer’s office. This title transfer is important as it means that the title of the house was transferred to us from the developer. Meaning, the land and house is now under our name.

There is another document to sign with the lawyer handling the bank loan. This is to charge the title to the bank, because we took loan from the bank to finance the house. In other words, the land and house would belong to the bank as long as the loan is in effect.

As for the construction progress, we have taken some pictures end of Nov 2007.

We’ll let the pictures do the job as pictures speak a thousand words.

How the construction of the houses look right now. This picture was taken from the balcony of one of the houses. Can see the two-and-a-half storey houses and the double-storey houses?

This is the other end of the housing development, taken from the same spot as above.

Most of the houses are ready for the construction of fences and compound of the house.

The construction of the drainage system has already started. And of course, the bank has very promptly deducted money from the loan account…

And this, the classic ’spy room’ hehhe!
ok ok , this is an inside joke. can’t help it but present it that way! hahhaaha Some suspense is good for life ;p

Oh wow, time flies! Been so long since we have updated this Home in Malaysia property portal.

Let’s fill you curious people out there on the progress of the construction of our home in Penang, Malaysia.

At this moment, the skeleton is already up, even the roofing.

Since picture speaks a thousand words, here’s some pictures of the housing development. We went to recee the place about two weeks back and getting my new black shoe filed with dust, making it white!

See the effort we put in to bring you the best coverage, hehe

Ok la, less of those crap and back to the photos!

The overall view of the housing estate.

These are the three-storey semi-detached houses by the same developer, Metrio Jaya Development.

These are some of the double-storey semi-detached houses facing the three-storey semi-detached houses you see above.

And this one, very near ours! so this is the progress of our house right now.

And this, the back view of the house. Can see the progress of the roofing. I guess by now, the roofing would have been completed.

If you have noticed, the sky seemed to have become darker from the first to the last photo. Yup, you are right, we were there in the evening and managed to snap a few pictures before the sky turns dark.

Oh.. and we observed many other things inside there too, such as Read more »

Four thick sets of paper with lengthy words and about over 100 signatures later, the house is legally ours.

Yup, you are right, the thick sets of papers are the copies of the sales and purchase agreement (SnP) for the house. One set is for the purchaser, one copy for the developer, one copy for the lawyer and another for the bank.

If you are wondering why the need for so many signatures, I’ve included the signatures of the initials on every page of the agreement to signify that you have looked at the page.

According to the lawyer firm, the agreement document is the standard SnP agreement drafted by the Malaysia’s Local Housing Ministry and is customized according to the property purchased and buyer. On top of the page, is the title Schedule G.

The agreement started with all the legal terms, the usual jargons lawyers love to bore you with, so that you will get so confused reading them that you give up and just sign on the dotted line.

After that, is the plan of the whole housing development with the lot numbers, followed by the house layout, architectural designs from the four views - front, back, sides, the dimensions, measurements, the details of purchasers, the details of the house such as address and name of development and details of the developer.

The whole set ended with space for our precious signatures.

 On top of that, we have to sign another four sets of slightly less thick sets of paper for the deed of convenant - the mutual agreement on the common facilities offered as it is a gated community with security features.

Basically, what the deed is all about is that you agree not to be a nuisance to all the other owners or tenants of the houses within the gated community, so as to have a condusive living environment. I shall not bore you with all the naggy terms like no aggressive and noisy behaviour and no littering within the compound.

But, really, I feel that all that the management of the gated community is interested in, is the six months in advanced payments for the maintenance and security service provided to the residents - the guard house, the CCTVs and the high wall with security features.

Make purchasers sign this deed so that they have no problems collecting the fees in the future. Somemore, there’s this clause in there saying that the management reserves the right to change the monthly fees as they like. What a ’save-your-ass’ clause. Somehow, my partner said all the owners can change the management if we are not happy, provided that everyone agrees.

We were at the law firm for a few hours, looking through the agreement and also asking questions. The law jargons did bore me and after reading a few pages, my attention span wavered. Arghhh…. Well… if there’s anything we do not agree to, it is too late now….

Anyway, when I finally took the pen and started signing away, it felt like a signature-signing exercise - practising to perfect my signature. There was a slight sense of jubilation and a sense of achievement after the task has been completed. However, those feelings didn’t last long, at least for me.

Feelings of insecurity on how to finance the house, together with a tinge of regret, replaced the earlier feeling. Maybe I’ll dwelve more into why we were feeling like this, in the next post….

In about a week’s time, we will be signing our Sales and Purchase (SnP) Agreement for the house. The appointment with the lawyer is set, the agreement papers are ready. Just waiting for us to put our beautiful and precious signatures to the paper. And to seal the deal.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for the bank offer letters to be ready at about the same time too, to lessen hassle.

Jittery, unsure, nervous, exhilarated. Can’t deny am feeling all that. So many what ifs questions popped up. And also the thought of finally owning our own piece of land also drove my senses wild.

Is this the same for all first time buyers of houses and properties? Would be curious how others feel too. Feel free to share your experiences in the comments. I believe other first-timers will be curious to know too!

Let’s hope everything goes on smoothly!

Well well, its been more than 2 months since my partner and I put in to paper on the booking form. Where are we now?

Well, the S&P signing have not commenced yet. Apparently the developer is still tied up with the local authorities. I have yet to contact the developers to get an updae on this.

On the other side, my loan applications has been approved. The interest rates, well I would say pretty competitive. The bank is currently waiting for the S&P sigining before agreeing to issue the “letter of offer”.

At the construction site, well construction is still ongoing at a frantic pace. I visited the site a week ago, I daresay the developer has already put up almost 6 new 3-storey semi-d albeit without any furnishing yet. But then again the structure is up

Thats all the update for now.

Can you believe that we have been to the show house more than four times in 5 days?  

And it still looks fabulous! Wow, at least, I think the interior designer did a very good job in decorating the whole place. Especially the kitchen part *wink*. Even the empty show house beside it is looking more homely by the day

 Actually, I took some photos (shhh… don’t tell, keke) but I don’t have the privilege to post it here, in case the interior designer decides that his/her work is privileged stuff.

But, maybe I can feed some of your curiosity with this floor plan I took from the brochure.

Can see? Maybe you have to strain your eyes a bit. And put your imagination to overdrive. haha just kidding. :p

Just click on the picture thumbnail, and it will bring you to a bigger picture of the house floor plan. Then you can have a fun time exploring the house, imagining yourself in the house.

After many sleepless nights, tossing and turning in bed, with hundred and one things flying through my mind, finally the decision is made. I finally bought my first house! :D 

A double-storey semi-detached house in Juru, Butterworth, Penang. A good location I would say, if you look at the maps.

The maps below give the idea of the surroundings, the buildings and the amenities around that area. If you notice, it is very near the Juru toll of the North-South Highway.

Click on the picture thumbnails to get a bigger picture, unless of course you prefer to work your imaginative brain juices.

As you can see here, it is right smack in between the existing Penang bridge and the proposed Second Penang Bridge that the Malaysian government is building under the Ninth Malaysia Plan. The Second Penang Bridge will start construction on Nov 12, 2006.

These maps are taken from the brochure by the developer, who is also developing other types of houses such as two-storey bungalows, two-and-a-half-storey houses and three-storey semi-detached houses, on top of the two-storey semi-detached houses.

This google map below would give you a bird’s eye view of the development.

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Have a better idea of where the location is now? How about this?

If you are still wondering where is Penang Island, it is an island on the north west of Peninsula Malaysia. A tropical island with beautiful scenery and has the feel of a big city, just like Kuala Lumpur, minus the air pollution.

It comes complete with an international airport so if you are flying in from overseas, this is good news!

Our first Dream Home, wow!! I never really thought i could really afford one at such a young age, being barely in the workforce for 2 years now. Then again, nothing is impossible. Its only a matter of brain versus brawn.

We bought our first dream home on Weds the 11th of October 2006 to be exact, we paid our earnest deposit for our Dream Home measuring 33″*91″ on this date. Our Dream Home, a semi-D, has a built up area of 23″ by 50″ and comes with 4 bedrooms, 2 halls, 3 bathrooms, and a wet and a dry kitchen. Hmmm kinda big for a young couple like us but hey, i’ll love the extra space.

Price Tag?? Hmmm…. slightly above RM300k after a small discount from the developer. This is the third housing project from the developer.

The developer being a local, has developed two other projects, one being a housing estate consisiting only of bungalow lots. I guess this is not what you would call a solid track record. So lets hope everything works out to be fine.

Oh yah, this housing project is a based on a gated community concept. The entrance in and out of the housing estate will be watched by security guards. Now thats what i call security

Oh yah…. here’s how the house looks like…. the show house of course

 Let me know what you think